Pruett's Pause: WWE Raw SuperShow - A.J. Is heavily featured for another week with C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan, John Cena teams with Kane against Chris Jericho and Big Show, Money in the Bank go-home fails to deliverJul 10, 2012 - 02:25 PM

By Will Pruett

- I'm still amazed to see a storyline where one of the main players is a diva as the central focus of Raw. Not since the days of Stephanie McMahon has a woman been such an important player. Say what you will about overexposure, but WWE is determined to make sure A.J. becomes a star.

- A.J.'s proposal to C.M. Punk was interesting. It took the storyline just a little bit further than I thought it would go, but it also seemed like a relatively natural fit.

- Daniel Bryan deciding to suddenly propose to A.J. was also enjoyable. This angle is absurd, but it is also quite fun to watch play out. I'm not at all worried about the WWE Championship being in this angle, since it is the focus of the show at this moment. This is the most prominent the championship has been in months.

- The return of the Anonymous General Manager made me smile. Maybe I'm just a sucker for nostalgia acts from 2010, but I loved it.

- Involving Eve in Daniel Bryan, C.M. Punk, and A.J.'s story is a fun move. Her character is one of the best that WWE has conceived lately and I'm looking forward to seeing it develop more.

- If A.J. is in a wedding on the 1,000th episode of Raw where the groom isn't revealed until the end, I may declare this the best story of the decade.

- Sheamus vs. Jack Swagger could have happened during a commercial break and no one would have noticed.

- What would be the first act any active wrestler given the role of General Manager would commit? I'd think he would book himself in two world championship matches during the evening. I'm guessing that Zack Ryder won't be doing this, thus making him kind of a dummy.

- Do people still like Zack Ryder, or are we over that?

- The Rock, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels will all be on the 1,000th episode of Raw. This should be one of the most exciting editions of the show we've seen in a long time. WWE is hyping it well with special appearances and big stories. Forwarding/beginning The Rock's quest for the WWE Championship is part of that.

- Was Dolph Ziggler ever in the ring on this show?

- I understand allowing Tensai (which rhymes with Fat Guy) to get some of his heat back, but putting him in a match with three great workers and not allowing them to truly work was a disappointment. Tyson Kidd, Christian, and Dolph Ziggler could have used some time to work prior to Tensai's destruction.

- Is WWE pushing Tyson Kidd or not? I can't quite figure it out.

- Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler is a feud that should have ended about twelve times in the last year and a half. I know that WWE uses embarrassing Cole when they're attempting to draw short-term ratings, but I doubt that it is effective anymore.

- Why push Michael Cole as a lead heel instead of giving that time to new stars? New stars will draw for years to come. Michael Cole is at the tail end of his run at best.

- The Anonymous General Manager is not about quality matches, apparently. Brodus Clay vs. Drew McIntyre was the same thing Brodus has been doing since January.

- One of the most compelling things about the Impact Wrestling television show at this moment is the way it is developing characters and evolving them. Even the Bound for Glory Series is allowing this to happen. Where is that evolution and development on Raw? Who has grown or changed in the last month?

- I was disappointed that Chris Jericho and Big Show didn't seem to be on the same JeriShow page. I really wanted to hear that theme music.

- John Cena tried his best to sell Money in the Bank as a must see event. This really was the only attempt to hard sell the pay-per-view on Sunday and it fell flat for me. John Cena sometimes tries to make things sound too big and it becomes disingenuous.

- John Cena and Kane could have done a little more to tease tension going into their tag team match. After Kane attempted to basically kill Cena prior to WrestleMania, seeing them work as a cohesive unit was strange.

- The JeriShow vs. Cena and Kane match was pretty long and it felt plodding at moments. Two commercial breaks in one match make me lose interest about 99% of the time.

- The ladder beat down from Big Show, then from John Cena killed me a little bit. This is the kind of action we're going to see on Sunday and it is thoroughly unexciting. I've been optimistic about this match, but the slow pace of this tag team match turned me into a pessimist.

- Eve stirring up drama between Punk and A.J. will be very fun. I hope she continues to be involved in this. Eve vs. A.J. could be the first interested non-title Diva's feud in the last decade.

- How did Heath Slater even earn an opportunity to be in a Money in the Bank qualifier?

- Sin Cara in the World Championship Contract Money in the Bank match could be very fun. He only needs to pull off one or two impressive spots to make an impact. He's at the right level for the match as well.

- Bob Backlund was a fun cameo. He's crazy, but a fun act to see pop up on occasion.

- Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler was what it was. It didn't last as long as it could have, nor was it as painful as it could have been.

- The reveal of Hornswoggle as the Anonymous General Manager was fun. I never expected to get the real payoff to that storyline, so any payoff was fine with me. It seems like Hornswoggle is the go-to for storylines that WWE wishes they had never started, like Vince McMahon's son. Will we find out that Hornswoggle made the McMahon's Millions set fall on McMahon too?

- It made sense that Daniel Bryan would allow Eve to get beat. He does want A.J. to favor him.

- The ending moments of Raw were interesting. A.J. not showing any favoritism going into Money in the Bank is preferable, but I do hope the plan is for her to take a side after the pay-per-view. We've seen the first part of this story for long enough, so let's move onto chapter two.

Overall, this edition of Raw was a poor one. Even the segments that did point to Money in the Bank did not get me excited about the pay-per-view. I'm not exactly the target audience for this show, but it made me perfectly fine with not spending my money on Money in the Bank on Sunday.

What was the point of this show? It felt like a mis-match of random Superstars matches and some absurd, but fun developments in the opening and closing moments of the show. This show was a chore to get through, which wrestling should never be.

So, what did you think of the show? Agree? Disagree? Either way, feel free to email me at itswilltime@gmail.com or to follow me and interact on twitter at twitter.com/itswilltime.

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